This Derm-Loved Brand Just Dropped A Revolutionary New SPF For Sensitive Skin

By this point, even those of us not well-versed in skin care know that sunscreen is essential — both for helping to protect against skin cancer and for preventing signs of premature aging (e.g. fine lines and hyperpigmentation). But knowing what you should do and actually doing it is a whole different story, and it can be easy to make excuses to skip the sunscreen if you haven’t found the right formula. While sunscreen has certainly come a long way in the past decade alone, there are still too many options out there that leave behind a white cast or make your skin feel sticky or dry (sometimes all of the above). Those concerns are only heightened if you have sensitive skin that’s experienced irritation from chemical sunscreen filters like oxybenzone and octocrylene or common additives like fragrance.

Enter EltaMD’s new UV Skin Recovery SPF 50 — a face sunscreen you’ll actually want to use, thanks to its gentle formula that protects your skin from the sun and leaves it feeling hydrated and soft. Safe for all skin types, the mineral sunscreen is especially helpful for those with sensitive skin or anyone who is temporarily dealing with damaged or compromised skin from in-office treatments or cosmetic procedures. Ahead, take a closer look at the hero ingredients powering the sunscreen, which even comes in a tinted option that was specifically developed to camouflage redness on the spot.

Fast Facts

• Key benefits: Provides UVA and UVB protection, strengthens the skin, reduces redness
• Key ingredients: Zinc oxide, centella asiatica, ceramides
• Fragrance-free
• Noncomedogenic

During my 10-plus years as a beauty editor, EltaMD has consistently been recommended by dermatologists, whether I’ve been working on a story or shopping for myself. The brand is especially beloved for its skin care offerings across the sun protection and post-procedure treatment categories, and the Skin Recovery SPF 50 combines the best of both worlds.

For starters, the sunscreen boasts a 12.9% concentration of zinc oxide, a mineral sunscreen filter that provides broad-spectrum protection against UVA and UVB rays. In addition to protecting all skin types from the sun’s UV radiation, zinc oxide is particularly helpful for those with sensitive skin as it helps to actively soothe inflamed skin (it’s a key ingredient in diaper rash creams, after all) and minimizes any risk of irritation by sitting on the skin’s surface like a shield that reflects and scatters UV rays (as opposed to chemical sunscreen filters, which work by absorbing UV rays). While mineral sunscreens tend to leave behind a white cast since they sit on the skin, EltaMD’s SPF was formulated to seamlessly blend into the skin sans any residue.

But that’s just one part of the fragrance-free and noncomedogenic sunscreen, which was also developed to treat damaged skin that’s experiencing redness and/or irritation. A blend of ceramides reinforces the skin barrier, while centella asiatica extract calms irritation as it triggers the skin’s wound-healing response by stimulating collagen production. EltaMD has also added its patented blend of amino acids into the mix, which combines three amino acids at a concentration that has been clinically proven to support skin barrier repair, reduce sun damage, and minimize both visible redness and the risk of irritation. Because of this, the SPF is beneficial for those with skin conditions like rosacea, as well as those who are temporarily experiencing sensitivity from cosmetic treatments.

Finally, the Skin Recovery SPF 50 sunscreen offers one more way to combat skin sensitivity with its tinted option. But rather than include a range of tints for different skin tones, EltaMD is using the color-correcting technique popular among professional makeup artists with a green-tinted SPF. According to color theory, green pigments work to neutralize conflicting red tones in the skin, allowing the face sunscreen to work like a multi-tasking primer that moisturizes, provides sun protection, and camouflages unwanted redness all at once.